"Every judgement ends up being a self-judgement in some way." I heard a presenter say this at a conference in Chicago this past weekend. We were discussing the ethics of grading in schools and the idea that standards based grading was a more ethical way to go about it. Separating behavior, timeliness, and teacher subjectivities from what kids actual know is not always so simple.
I don't know about you, but I don't want to be seen as a judge for anybody. God forbid anyone look at me in that same judgmental way.
Our grades really should not be seen as judgements should they? Too many times they are because they seem so random and subjective. Why did homework count for this amount? How come we only had one test worth any points? Why did I get a zero when I handed in the paper a day late? Can I redo that test because I know I can do better?
When you let students know what their learning goals are and track their mastery of that goal, aren't we giving a more accurate description of what they actually know?
I think it's time we start to investigate the legitimacy of standards based grading.
No comments:
Post a Comment